Glossary

Psychological Safety

Psychological safety is a shared belief that a team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking — that people can speak up, ask for help, admit mistakes, and disagree without fear of embarrassment or punishment.

Coined by researcher Amy Edmondson, it is one of the strongest predictors of team performance: teams with high psychological safety surface problems early, learn faster, and innovate more.

It is built through repeated small moments — how leaders respond to bad news, whether questions are welcomed, how mistakes are handled — and it can be deliberately strengthened through trust-building and facilitated team work.

Related

Tour De Force builds this in practice through Outbound Training. Want a quick read on your team? Try the free self-check.

Questions

Psychological Safety FAQ

How do you build psychological safety?

Leaders model it: welcome questions, respond well to bad news and mistakes, invite disagreement, and give everyone a voice. Facilitated team experiences accelerate it.

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